Pages

Thursday, March 20, 2014

The Right Climate Stuff

In an early post I lamented about the absence of an organization to review objectively climate change without a hidden agenda and how CSICOP/CSI has failed in this fundamental duty to which they want everyone to believe they are dedicated. Well, not all is lost. Here is a paraphrase from the website http://therightclimatestuff.com/ that claims to have tackled that task.

There are competing points of view regarding the causes of climate change in our current environment. One group has concluded that human activities. . . has caused a recent acceleration of a 300 year trend of global warming. The most prevalent alternative point of view is that natural variations
account for most, if not all, of changes in climate.

We are gathering together a group of highly educated and experienced scientists & engineers from various disciplines to take on the challenge of evaluating the narratives of both the advocates of AGW and also the skeptics of AGW.

A large amount of manpower and money is being spent on an attempt to ameliorate the supposed rise in global temperature.

This study is very difficult because of the extremely complex nature of the physical and chemical interactions between the sun and earth that effect our climate. However, we are encouraged because a number of the members of the study group were successful in using scientific discipline to resolve unusual problems involved in the national effort of early manned spaceflight to achieve the goals of the Apollo Lunar Exploration Program.

The motto of the Mission Evaluation Room engineers is . . . “In God we trust, all others bring data”

Committee For Skeptical Inquiry

"I was dismayed by the rising tide of belief in the paranormal and lack of adequate scientific examination of these claims... Books such as ... the 'Chariots of the Gods ... 'Worlds in Collision'... 'The Bermuda Triangle' were widely popular... I was distressed that my students confused astrology with astronomy...without the benefit of scientific critique. Most of my scientific colleagues were equally perplexed by what was happening,..."

Paul Kurtz, founder

What is Skepticism

What is Science

Science is that discipline that validates observations and proposes explanations base on the Scientific Method:- Formulate the Question- Propose a Falsifiable Hypothesis- Predict based on the Hypothesis- Test the Predictions- Validate the results as Repeatable- Submit Honestly for Peer Review

However,

A little learning is a dangerous thing;Drink deep, or taste not the Pierian spring.- Alexander Pope, 1709

Science never claims dogma and never says, "the debate is over." It requires a never-ending refinement of hypotheses based on continuous improvement of tests and insight.

Test for Scientific Worthiness

Micheal Shermer is the author of Why People Believe Weird Things and How We Believeand is Editor-in-Chief of Skeptic magazine. He often makes personal appearances on TV shows that wish to present a balance perspective relative to claims of the paranormal or fringes of belief systems. He has offered ten tests to determine the scientific worthiness of any claim. Click here for our summary of those tests.

The above Widget is maintained by WhatsUpWithThat.com. They have posted no explanation as to why it is stalled in 2014. They are also aware of the misspelling of Monthly.